July 26, 2007

Someone sent me this article from Wired Magazine on Second Life and Virtual Worlds. The premise of the article is how many brands are spending millions to create in world destinations that no one will visit. To be honest, I've been of the same mindset for the last year. Although Second Life is a cool concept, there was nothing going on that would keep me there. I didn't get any satisfaction from being in world and most of the people I encountered struggled with maintaining a conversation.

However, it really is too soon to say how successful virtual worlds we be. We've barely scratched the surface with Second Life and with every early entrant there are bound to be issues. As additional worlds get created, the industry will learn from past mistakes and make drastic improvements. After reading the Wired article, I started thinking about what I hope virtual worlds will evolve into (for better or worse), so here are those thoughts:

Websites as we know them will evolve into a virtual world specific to your brand, cause, community, etc.

Like the Nintendo Wii, users will create avatars that they use to navigate these sites and communicate directly with business leaders, staff, and Influencers they are interested in

"Avatars will leap frog through worlds as simply as we currently navigate through websites," which will drastically increase marketing opportunities as games and interactive components become more of a story than a distraction

It's possible that some of these virtual destinations will be "pay to enter" where you can participate in say virtual paint ball, or other types of quick multi-player games beyond the World of Warcraft MMPROPG.

I could go on and on, but I'm really starting to see further into the future and I can't help but get excited. Does anyone else have any ideas about what might happen? I'd enjoy hearing other perceptions.

April 18, 2007

I love Coca-Cola (I have to write out Coca Cola because "I love Coke" just sounds bad). I think I have single handedly put a few of the children of Coke executives through college. It was great news today to see that they are using their Marketing money for something innovative and Social Media based...

"a competition in Second Life, the name of the project is VirtualThirst and involves the general public and residents of Second Life designing Coke vending machines that deliver “experiences”. (see the entire post from Experience Curve Here."

Coke has been working with Joseph Jaffe's new marketing company, Crayon to execute this project and as anyone who reads JaffeJuice knows, Joseph and the gang at Crayon are huge Second Life advocates. (note to Second Life: Give Crayon some kickbacks).

All in all - I like this idea and hope that Coke is successful with it. As I have said before, Coke is a brand that would value from Social Media immensely. They have become a staple in society and have established a brand that people are passionate about. (How many Coke drinkers would drink Pepsi?)

This news has encouraged me to jump into Second Life and check out the initiative (Find me in Second Life - Lukas Greene) but I am not sure it will result in the ROI that Coke may be anticipating. Sure, it's a great way to connect with the existing Second Life crowd, but how far can it go beyond that? I guess we'll wait and see. See you in Second Life if you'd like to discuss.